The Piagetian perspective of adult cognitive development and adult education could have implications for how work and formal reasoning can be related to adult education programs and policy. During adolescence and adulthood, many individuals enter the cognitive period of formal operations (the last of three stages in Piaget's conceptual framework…

Self-directed learning at work is becoming a major trend in training and organizational development. Referring to theoretical considerations in the domains of motivation and learning in disciplines beyond adult education, the concepts of interest, strategies, control, and evaluation seem appropriate to describe self-directed learning. Constructs…

This document consists of three papers presented at a symposium on transfer of training moderated by Gene Roth at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). "Validation of a Transfer Climate Instrument" (Reid A. Bates et al.) reports a study that attempted to validate Rouiller and Goldstein's (1993) eight-factor…

Traditionally, transfer of learning has been a concern only during coursework. It has become clear, however, that there are a number of transfer enhancement strategies that educators and trainers can successfully implement before, during, and after organized learning experiences. Even before training begins, trainers can begin to enhance their…

The first of the four papers in this symposium, "The Role of the Survey in the Assessment of an Organization for High Performance Redesign: A Case Study" (Teresa K. Moyers, Oris T. Griffin), looks at how one company used a survey to analyze the way the social system currently is designed and operates. "Thriving on Change: An…

The effectiveness of biofeedback and relaxation training in reducing occupational stress was examined in a study of 50 individuals employed in various occupations in Iran. The study sample consisted of 15 workers (5 females, 10 males); 15 managers (5 females, 10 males); 9 guardians (3 females, 6 males); 5 dentists (2 females, 3 males); and 6…

The "rhetoric of skill requirements" is a way of describing work by decomposing the human contribution into distinct components. Three important characteristics of this rhetoric are especially germane to an understanding of work. The first characteristic is that jobs and their incumbents can be fully analyzed by breaking them down into skills.…

A brief, low-cost career intervention was designed to reduce employee turnover in the customer service call center of a financial institution. Through an extensive literature review, organizational commitment (OC) was identified as a primary predictor of employee turnover, and a list of research-supported OC antecedents was compiled. Antecedents…

This document contains four symposium papers on contextual learning issues. "Learning to Learn Strategies of Successful Real Estate Professionals: Implications for Learning in the Workplace" (Margot B. Weinstein) describes a multicase study in which a model called the Individual Learning System was used to identify the strategies and…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on motivation to learn and perform in the workplace. "Getting It Together: Motivations and Success Characteristics for Interorganizational Collaborations" (Mary Wilson Callahan) presents results of a literature review, a hierarchical framework of motivations for interorganizational collaboration,…

Three presentations are provided from Symposium 33, Work Motivation, of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD) 2000 Conference Proceedings. "An Attitudinal Examination of the Role of HRD in Voluntary Turnover in Public Service Organizations" (Kenneth R. Bartlett, William R. McKinney) compares public service managers who voluntarily left…

The midcareeer learning of 120 professionals in 12 contrasting business, engineering, and health care organizations was examined to identify factors facilitating workplace learning. Individuals were interviewed regarding their current work and ways they acquired the necessary know-how and knowledge for their jobs and improved or extended their…

A study identified the structural conditions for workers' perceptions of the need for qualifications and education. It defined qualification requirements based on evaluations of work organization in three workplaces in two companies. Evaluations were used to develop a reference framework for understanding workers' subjective value criteria linked…

A study to explore organizational conditions that facilitate workplace learning involved 35 resource development consultants in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and line staff from 22 organizations in a 9-hour participatory research workshop using Appreciative Inquiry--a technology emphasizing the positive or "life-giving" forces which…

This document contains three papers on human resource development (HRD) and trust in organizations. "Organizational Trust: An Orientation for the HRD Practitioner" (Christina L. Lafferty, Brad D. Lafferty) reviews research on organizational trust that was conducted with a focus on cognitive-based theories, affect-based theories, and…